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E39 (1997 - 2003) The BMW 5-Series (E39 chassis) was introduced in the United States as a 1997 model year car and lasted until the 2004 when the E60 chassis was released. The United States saw several variations including the 525i, 528i, 530i and 540i. -- View the E39 Wiki

Long story short, my alternator bit the dust on the highway, red battery light popped on, transmission went into SAFE MODE and I drove 7 miles to my indy who replaced the alternator, all set. After about 50 miles SES light came on, brought it back, he read an "48" code which is the torque converter code, reset the SES and off I went, 50 miles later, SES came on. This time I went out and bought the Barvarian Technic software program / cable so I could do my own diagnostics. The indy told me that his friend said that after a SAFE MODE, a BMW dealer may have to reflash the transmission module but he did not have all he info. Anyways, I read the code and sure enough 048 Torque Converter Slip which I reset, 7 miles later, threw the code again, this time I used the BT activation option and reset the transmission's "adaptive memory". Been 100+ miles now, no SES, life is good.

As a side note, the transmission has always shifted perfectly, tight, crisp shifts and the previous owner said no transmission issues for him... hope this helps anybody else that had the TRANS SAFE light up from a battery issue. A bad indy might tell you to change your transmission or fluid (which I'm doing anyways) or both.

I love the Bavarian Technic software and would recommend it $287 and as close as you can get to the $10,000 BMW software.

That's great, Seth. When I popped the TRANS PROG FAILSAFE message on my prevous e39, I had to take it to the stealer for them to reset it. Naturally, they wanted to replace my tranny (@ only 50K)! I had them reset it and never had another problem for 30K+.

Does your BT software reset an LEW code for steering angle sensor? I am getting a DSC light on after 20-30 minutes of driving. I believe it is related to my off center steering wheel, which happened after I replaced my control arms (due to the bushing torquing procedure) last month. It does not appear to be the ABS wheel speed sensors. I am going to redo my front suspension in the next few weeks and will get the front end realigned. Hopefully, that will cure it but I am looking for a new code scanner/reader (lost my Peake) and this BT may be the ticket if it can reset this light.

SES came back on in both S and D mode. Spoke with the stealer, they say after a battery disconnect you may need to reflash your tranny. 4/1 going in for a $118 reflash albeit with a free loaner 2010 BMW : )

And yes, BT does do LEW code reading, acuation and resetting. Mine comes back green - clear, no faults.